


Of Goldfish and Sea Changes

by Ladybug_21



Category: Aquaman (2018)
Genre: Baby Atlanna, Exhausted Parental Figure Vulko, Fluff, Gen, Goldfish!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-07
Updated: 2019-01-07
Packaged: 2019-10-05 23:56:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17334791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ladybug_21/pseuds/Ladybug_21
Summary: "I'm giving up eating fish," Atlanna announced the day after her eleventh birthday."No, you're not," Vulko replied, without even bothering to look up from the treaty he was reviewing.





	Of Goldfish and Sea Changes

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ghostly_Business](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ghostly_Business/gifts).



> After reading my headcanon for these two characters in my (much more serious) story [_Ebb and Flow_](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17183111), Ghostly_Business requested more fics about Exhausted Parental Figure Vulko and Baby Atlanna (specifically, an Animal Rights Activist Baby Atlanna). And this is what came of said request. Also inspired by that one very strange moment at the beginning of the film where Atlanna eats Tom Curry's goldfish. I obviously own no rights to _Aquaman_.

"I'm giving up eating fish," Atlanna announced the day after her eleventh birthday.

"No, you're not," Vulko replied, without even bothering to look up from the treaty he was reviewing.

"Yes, I  _am_ ," Atlanna insisted, drifting into the chair in front of Vulko's office desk, "and I think that  _someone_ should consider making the rest of Atlantis do the same."

Vulko rolled his eyes and looked up at his preteen protégée, who was scowling at him with her arms crossed stubbornly.  

"I do hope that by  _someone_ , you don't mean my rather busy self?"

" _Vulko_ ," Atlanna said with a hint of imperial whine in her voice, "this is _serious_.  At least hear me out?"

"It is your royal prerogative, Princess; when you speak, I am obliged to listen."  With a sigh, Vulko pushed the treaty aside and folded his hands, praying that the Xebelian ambassador wouldn't impatiently storm into his office within the next few minutes and ask what was taking so long.  "So.  Let's hear your arguments for why Atlantis should give up its primary food source."

"It's inhumane!" Atlanna burst out passionately.  "Think about the fish, Vulko!  They live and swim and feel just like we do!  How can we eat them without even stopping to consider the value of their own lives?"

"Princess, no."  Vulko rubbed his forehead with one hand.  "Fish do  _not_ feel just like we do.  Fish have incredibly rudimentary nervous systems, and I can assure you that they do not feel much pain as we slurp them down, if any."

To emphasize his point, Vulko pushed his hand through the lid of the covered bowl on his desk and pulled out a wriggling goldfish, which he popped into his mouth and swallowed.

Atlanna's frown deepened.

"You're barbaric," she informed the political advisor.  "You're no better than a mindless, flesh-eating creature, like a shark or an octopus or..."

"Another larger fish?" Vulko supplied.  "And octopuses are very intelligent creatures, as you well know.  Excellent musicians, too.  I wouldn't accuse them of being mindless at all."

"That's not the _point_ ," Atlanna grumbled.  "What about  _morals_ , Vulko?  That fish had a right to exist, just as much as you do!  Don't you have any conscience whatsoever?"

"Of course, Your Highness, but I also have professional obligations."  Vulko popped another goldfish into his mouth and swallowed it thoughtfully.  "Have you considered what might happen if all of Atlantis suddenly gave up eating fish?"

"We'd probably be celebrated as one of the more forward-thinking and enlightened subaquatic civilizations on the planet..."

"And our entire economy would promptly collapse," Vulko finished for her.  "This treaty on my desk governs exchanges of precious minerals mined in Xebel for a set quantity of Atlantean fish for the next decade.  Fish cultivation is our largest industry, Your Highness—surely, if I've taught you nothing else, it's that?  We rely on our own fish market for every aspect of our transoceanic trade, not to mention to ensure that domestic food prices don't rise too high.  Our technological studies and even trident production literally rest on the health of the Atlantean fish trade, and there's no means of ensuring a market's growth like a population that needs it for sustenance.  Asking Atlantis to give up fish as a food source would dramatically alter our entire culture as we know it."

Atlanna chewed her lip impatiently for a moment while she thought.

"But if there were a way to keep the market as strong as it is, on the basis of only exports..."

"Then there's still a public health argument for fish consumption.  You've heard the expression, 'Atlanteans shall not live by kelp alone'?  Try swimming ten leagues on a diet of pure phytoplankton and tell me how well you feel afterwards."

As if on cue, Atlanna's stomach rumbled.  Vulko raised an eyebrow significantly, and the princess glowered at him.

"I'm FINE," she insisted loudly.

Vulko responded by popping another goldfish into his mouth.  Atlanna's chin quivered, and when Vulko tipped the lidded bowl towards her, she eyed it for a solid 30 seconds, before finally caving and darting her hand inside to seize a goldfish for herself.

"I really hate you right now," she told Vulko around the goldfish tail sticking out of her mouth.

"A word of diplomatic advice, Princess?  Never declare your hatred for anyone on an empty stomach.  And no, nibbling on algae all morning doesn't count; you need real protein in your diet."

Atlanna swallowed the goldfish and sighed.

"Feeling better?"

"I guess," grumbled the princess.  "I meant well, Vulko, I really did."

"Never berate yourself for holding idealistic goals, Princess, but please also never berate yourself for choosing pragmatism over idealism.  At least this whole incident has given us a good opportunity to review some basic economics, no?"

"Lessons noted."  Atlanna drummed her fingers on the arm of her chair.  "I should probably go apologize to the kitchens for setting all of the caged lobsters free, shouldn't I."

"Yes, you probably should," agreed Vulko, who had closed his eyes and was wondering for the umpteenth time why he had ever stupidly agreed to mentor an impulsive young girl with a royal title.  "Now, shoo, Your Highness.  I need to go over the rest of the provisions in this treaty within the hour, if I don't want the Xebelian ambassador breathing down my neck."

Atlanna stood to leave, but she hovered by Vulko's desk as he pulled the treaty back towards him.

"Can I...?"

Vulko nudged the lidded bowl in her direction, and Atlanna seized another goldfish.

"They're so delicious," she muttered sheepishly.

Vulko rolled his eyes again, but he couldn't resist smiling at his ridiculous young charge.

"Take the entire lot with you," he told Atlanna.  "Just remember to bring back the bowl at some point, please."


End file.
